A House committee Monday evening approved a new and unfamiliar funding mechanism to help small life science companies expand or open shop in North Carolina.

The bill would create the nonprofit N.C. Life Science Development Corp. that would use private money to make loans to, for example, pharmeceutical or medical device companies looking to expand or open new operations that would produce commercially-viable products.

What concerned some lawmakers was that the state is on the hook to investors if the companies default.

More after the jump.

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Gov. Beverly Perdue has named the co-chairs of her budget reform panel.

Hilda Pinnix-Ragland and Norris Tolson will lead the Budget Reform and Accountability Commission, an outside commission that will recommend ways to cut state spending. 

Perdue said she wants the commission to conduct "a detailed review" of the current state budget to look for inefficient spending and come up with suggested cuts and consolidations.

"I expect my BRAC team to root out wasteful and unnecessary spending, hold government accountable for its appropriations and help ensure taxpayers are not funding ineffective or unsuccessful programs," Perdue said in a statement.

Pinnix-Ragland is chairwoman of the State Board of Community Colleges and holds an MBA in accounting. Tolson is president and CEO of the N.C. Biotechnology Center and previously served as secretary of commerce, transportation and revenue.

Both served on Perdue's gubernatorial transition team.

Norris Tolson is an insider's insider.

One of three leaders of Governor-elect Beverly Perdue's transition team, Tolson is a former state secretary of Commerce, Transportation and Revenue and the current head of the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

He has worked for Govs. Jim Hunt and Mike Easley, served in the state House and briefly ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination himself in 1999.

As N&O columnist Rob Christensen wrote during that campaign, Tolson is also a member of the "N.C. State University mafia" — a group of powerful state politicians who cut their teeth on 4-H and Future Farmers of America organizing in college.

"The NCSU mafia has so dominated the Democratic Party that there has not been a governor with an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since Sanford was elected nearly 40 years ago," he wrote.

(That is no longer true. Easley graduated from UNC in 1972.) 

Tolson's appointment is partly an indication of his status as one of Raleigh's "wise men." But it could also be a sign that Perdue is taking advice from Tolson's old friend, Hunt. 

The full column after the jump.

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Hillary Clinton and Mike Easley will tour N.C. State.

The Democratic presidential candidate and the state's governor will take a private tour of the college's Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center this morning.

Afterward, the two will hold a public rally at the McKimmon Center at 8:30 a.m.

Easley is expected to endorse Clinton at the rally. 

One of House Speaker Joe Hackney's two senior policy advisors has a new job with the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

Mike Wilkins will lead the center's new Statewide Operations and Economic Development Division, which is tasked with growing the biotechnology industry across the state. He is a former three-term state House member from Roxboro who later became former Speaker Jim Black's chief of staff, Dan Kane reports.

As a senior vice president, Wilkins, 62, will oversee the center's five regional offices, five regional biotechnology advisory committees and worldwide economic development activities. His salary was not disclosed in a news release from the center. Barry Teater, a center spokesman, would only say that the salary is between $116,549 and $171,393.

A spokesman for Hackney said he does not have immediate plans to fill Wilkins' position, which paid roughly $145,000 a year.

More after the jump.

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Norris Tolson won't be winning Trivial Pursuit anytime soon.

In a brief speech at Centennial Campus this morning, the president of the N.C. Biotechnology Center and former state secretary of revenue made two mistakes discernible to the average pop culture junkie.

First, he compared the creation of the biotech center to a catchphrase from the old "Mission: Impossible" TV show: "I love it when a plan comes together." Except, that line was from "The A-Team."

Then, he ended the speech by saying he wanted to follow Nike's motto and "Just get it done."

Um, Nike's motto is "Just do it." "Git-r-done" belongs to this fella.

Gov. Mike Easley named Reginald "Reggie" Hinton Revenue Secretary.

In a press release, the governor's office said that Hinton, acting secretary since June, would take the job permanently. He replaces Norris Tolson, who stepped down to become president of the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

"Reggie Hinton's nearly three decades with the Department of Revenue gives him a unique perspective and expertise when it comes to the vital task of overseeing the effective collection of state revenues," Easley said in a statement.

A Wake County native, Hinton has worked for the Department of Revenue since 1978. Since 2001, he has been chief deputy secretary.

The revenue department is responsible for administering tax laws and collecting taxes in North Carolina.